238 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



as I have been able to learn, no honey, beeswax, or bee larvae have 

 been reported from the gizzards of any of these forest hornbills. 



Breeding Season 



In the northern Belgian Congo the breeding season seems to be 

 from March to September and an undetermined period before and 

 after those months. At Medje, Christy obtained a nestling in April; 

 at Avakubi, Chapin collected an adult male with somewhat enlarged 

 testes on April 17; at Ibembo, Brother Joseph Hutsebaut collected a 

 female with somewhat enlarged ovary on August 21. The period of 

 nonbreeding activity in the northern part of the Congo forest is 

 probably between November and early March; in the southern part 

 it may be expected to be from June to September. Theoretically, 

 there would be an equatorial band, in between, where the breeding 

 and nonbreeding "seasons" would be difficult to distinguish. The 

 presumed fosterers, the species of Oymnobucco, breed throughout a 

 large part of the year, according to Chapin (1939, p. 512). 



Breeding Habits 



As to the breeding habits of the lyre-tailed honey-guide our igno- 

 rance is almost complete. At Medje, in the Belgian Congo, Christy 

 collected a young Melichneutes scarcely ready to leave the nest, 

 possibly taken from a nest of a brown barbet, Gymnohucco, but which 

 was presumably brought to him by a native who did not relate where 

 he found it. The inference that it came from a barbet's nest is pure 

 guess, but seems very probable. Strictly spealdng, however, we 

 cannot say that Melichneutes is known to be parasitic like its relatives, 

 but it would be surprising if it were otherwise. The brown barbet is 

 very common at Medje. 



Songs and Calls 



Chapin (1939) noted that Melichneutes sometimes emits a hoarse 

 chattering vocal note when sitting high up in a tree — a note apparently 

 comparable to the chattering, guiding note of Indicator indicator, 

 but slower. Chapin further informs me (in litt.) that a missionary in 

 the Itiu*i district gave him to understand that the natives there claim 

 that the lyie-tail comes around and makes a lot of noise when they 

 are opening a bee-tree. 



The most remarkable feature of the known part of the life history of 

 this bird is the complicated aerial evolution it displays, which is 

 accompanied by mechanical noises (nonvocal sounds) wholly compar- 

 able to the "bleating" of some snipe and other shore birds. The pro- 



